Buffy Meets Forks
by 00Pandox00
Summary: When Giles visits Forks to investigate the death of an old friend, what he finds requires the help of a Slayer. Rated M for later Chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: The Call**

Buffy Summers was asleep when her phone rang at 3 AM. It took her a couple of tries, but her seeking hand finally found it in the dark and lifted it to her ear.

"Lo?" she said sleepily, rubbing her eyes with her other hand.

"Buffy?"

"Giles? What's wrong?" she said, suddenly alert at the librarian's voice.

"I'm not quite sure yet."

"Aren't you in like, Spoons or Forks or Knives somewhere in the woods?" she mumbled.

"Forks, Washington. Yes. I called because of Maurice… It doesn't appear as though he was mauled by a bear."

"You're thinking it's a vamp?" she asked, sitting up in bed.

"I think so. The M.E. wouldn't let me actually examine the body. I only got a quick look, but it is certainly reminiscent of a vampire attack. Poor Maurice." he said sadly. Buffy felt a pang of sympathy.

"I'm so sorry Giles. I'll do whatever I can to help. Do you need me to mail you some books?" She yawned into the phone, and heard Giles chuckle.

"I was thinking that you should come up here and assist me."

Buffy reeled. "Giles, I'm sorry, I really am, but I don't have the time or money to go all the way to Knowwheresville! I mean, exams are in two weeks, it's the height of demon season… I know you feel bad about Maurice, but we're on the Hellmouth here."

"Buffy, it's more than that. It would only be a couple of days, and Walter, that's my colleague helping me with Maurice's things, offered to pay your tickets. After I saw Maurice, I did some investigating… and I found a dead mountain lion in the woods. Same type of injuries. Two deer as well. Something is out there, very hungry, that has progressed to killing humans."

"Can't the police kill it?" she asked irritably. The high demon count, large amount of homework, and late hour were catching up to her.

"They believe it's a bear."

"Ok, what about the mauling screams 'vampire'?"

"The bones crushed to powder, the two clear puncture marks on the neck."

"Normal vampires can't crush bones like that though… I mean they're strong, but not that strong." she said, thinking aloud.

"That's what worries me."

"Life wasn't complicated enough, so the vamps discovered steroids."

Giles chuckled. "Perhaps it's some type of demon."

"Oh, last night Angel and I fought this really ugly thing… it was all slimy and had these huge antlers. Maybe one of those?"

"No, that's a chaos demon. This is different. Be at the airport tomorrow after school, at 3. Willow and Xander too, they'll want to come and Willow could be helpful."

"Then why Xander?"

"Because if we don't let him come, he'll be quite the ass upon our return."

"True. Angel?"

"He needs to stay there and keep the other demons under control. He won't like it, but its how it has to be."

"Ok, sounds like a plan. But Giles?"

"Yes?"

Buffy smiled to herself in the dark. "You get to tell my mom"

Later, On the Plane

"Where's Xander?" Buffy asked irritably.

"Cordelia said he forgot something in his car." Willow announced. "So he went with her to get it."

"Now is not the time for their kind of goodbye…" Buffy said with an eye roll.

Willow and Oz smiled at that.

"Bye Will." Oz said. He was holding Willow's hand tightly, and Buffy could tell that he loathed letting her go. She wished for her Angel. Damned daylight.

"Bye, Oz." she whispered, kissing him lightly. Oz released her hand, then turned and walked away, glancing back at Willow repeatedly.

"Aw, he looks just like a little lost puppy." Will said, biting her lip. "I wanna squeeze him!"

Xander popped up, breathing heavily and very red in the face.

"So, it's off to Silverware town, is it?" he panted.

"Yep. And Forks jokes? Way overdone." Buffy said, flinging her bag over her shoulder and stepping onto the plane. A perky flight attendant greeted them as they took their seats.

"How was Giles holding up? Maurice and him were good friends right?" Xander asked.

"Yes, Maurice was a Watcher for awhile… but his slayer only lived three days. Five vamps at once." Buffy explained. She didn't like the story, because she remembered all too well her first days as a slayer. The fear, the confusion, all melted in with an inescapable sense of purpose… then to feel that purpose drain away with your own blood, while staring into the face of evil that was your job to defeat? To know another would be selected, and possibly meet the same fate? The thought was almost more than Buffy could bear, so it was easy to understand why Maurice Ryder fled to Forks. Too bad something followed.

"That's awful." Willow said, shuddering.

"Yeah." Xander said gloomily.

"He was important to Giles. So we have to do the best we can to fix whatever this is, ok guys?"

"We'll turn those bastards into kebabs." Xander growled.

"We'll dust them so hard, they'll need to be vacuumed." Willow said, brightening. "That was a pretty good one!"

"Good job, Will." Buffy said, smiling at her friends. No matter what they faced, they had each other, and for her that was enough to chase the chills away.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Giles!" Buffy announced, pointing to where she had seen her Watcher.

"Why is he wearing a skirt?" Xander asked, squinting. Sure enough, the would-be Giles was actually a woman. Buffy blushed.

"Whoops…"

"It's ok, Buff. She is very Giles-like." Willow said, giggling at the woman, who noticed and gave Willow a look of death.

"Nice." Xander said.

"What is?" amd English voice from behind them.

"Giles?" Buffy yelped, swinging around. "Or… not Giles."

"I'm Walter. Walter Harlow." The old man said. He looked about sixty, small with a crown of thick snow-white hair. His skin lacked wrinkles except at the corners of his piercing grey eyes; all in all he seemed pretty tough for an older man.

"Buffy Summers." she said, shaking his hand. Strong grip. Xander winced when it was his turn to shake.

"So you're Giles' friend right?" Willow asked.

"Yes, Giles and I go way back. So did Maurice."

"We're sorry about him." Willow said sadly.

"It's quite all right. Honestly… I believe he was expecting it. Laying low was only delaying the inevitable. As you all know, once you tangle with the demon realm, you can't just cut the threads. Do you have all of your bags?"

"Yep." Xander said. The rest nodded solemnly.

"Excellent, to the car then. Oh, and are any of you allergic to cats?"

"No, why?" Will asked.

"I have a few that I brought with me. They're good company and I wasn't expecting Giles to be there." He led them out to the parking lot where a deep blue minivan was parked. "You kids might want to be discreet. The chief of police lives next door." he warned, starting the car.

"Don't worry. We're professionals." Xander said importantly.

"I hope so. Things are strange around here. You'll discover that soon enough."

"Compared to Sunnydale it's probably a vacation." Buffy said.

"I should hope it's that easy." Walter replied. "Yet something makes me doubt it."

-Meanwhile, In Sunnydale-

Angel was brooding again.

"Dude, lighten up." Oz said, clapping a hand on the vampire's shoulder.

"I'm just worried about Buffy." Angel grumbled.

"Well there's a shocker. At some point your life has to be about more than just her. She's always going to be in danger, but she can take care of herself. She's a big girl."

"I know." Angel said, still glaring at the floor.

"Look, my gig got canceled tonight. Why don't we hang? We can go bowling… wait no bowling."

"I like bowling."

"I know, but the bowling crowd gets rough late at night."

"I can take 'em."

"Exactly. Movies? There's this new one about the civil war coming out, only with like, these giant robots that blow everything up. It got good reviews."

"Okay." Angel said reluctantly. "But from what I heard at the time, there were no robots."

"You immortal people never cease to flaunt it, do you?" Oz said, walking out the door. "It's at eight. Be there."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Willow, Xander, Oz and Giles sat in a circle in the living room, waiting for sundown. Walter busied himself in the kitchen making tea and feeding his cats- the four he brought with him. He told them he had seven more at home, who were being cared for by his neighbor, but he constantly lamented on the separation.

Willow sat next to Giles, patting him on the shoulder. "Poor Giles. Are you going to be ok?"

"I think getting closure will help immensely." he told her with a sad smile. "I'm so grateful to you all for coming."

"It's nothing, Giles. It's what we do, right? Slay?" Buffy said, smiling at him.

"I still appreciate it… look, the sun is going down. Time to patrol. Everyone have crosses and stakes?"

"Got it." Xander said. The girls nodded, and they were off into the cool Washington night.

"Xander, you stay on this street. We want to make sure that whatever killed Maurice won't return to the sight of the murder. Buffy and I will patrol the town… but stay there." Giles said firmly.

"You got it, boss." Xander said.

"What about me?" Willow asked.

"Actually… Buffy, do you think you can patrol alone? I'll take Willow."

"Ok, we'll meet back in an hour." Buffy said.

"Sounds good." Will agreed, and they all set off.

It took about fifteen minutes for Xander to recognize that he'd been left with a job designed to keep him out of the way.

"No one appreciates me." he sighed, plopping down on the porch.

Someone was walking down the street, towards him. It wasn't Buffy or Willow.

"Giles?" he called. The person stopped. "Oh. Not Giles. Sorry." he said, a stab of fear moving through him. He gripped his stake tightly. Where was Buffy?

The man began walking towards him again, and Xander could feel his stomach tighten with fear. He bolted into the house, into safety. Well, safe if the thing out there was a vampire, but not if it was a demon…

His mind listed the myriad demons and deaths those demons inflicted as he peeked out the window.

The figure was definitely the size and shape of a man, but with only the dim streetlights, Xander couldn't see any features. The thing stopped at the neighbor's house, looked around, and scaled the wall right into the second floor bedroom!

"Shit." Xander gasped. He needed Buffy, ASAP.

-Meanwhile, in Sunnydale-

Oz banged on Angel's door.

"Open up! Angel!"

It had taken half an hour to figure out that Angel wasn't coming to the movie. Oz had called Cordelia, who was at the Bronze, and asked if she'd seen him. She hadn't, but was pissed that he hadn't invited her, though he knew she would have rejected the offer. It just wasn't his night. He wished for Willow.

Finally, the door opened, and there was Angel with a packed bag.

"Dude. Where do you think you are going?" Oz asked, dumbstruck.

"To help Buffy. She needs me."

"All due respect, she doesn't need a babysitter."

"Neither does Willow, but you still want to protect her."

"That's completely different! Buffy's the Slayer!"

"If Willow is with her, and Giles, then she's plenty safe, and you know it. I've got to go, I have a plane to catch."

"What about sunlight?"

"It's a short flight." Angel walked past him, out into the night.

"Shut the door, will you?" he called back.

Oz did. And then he called Cordelia.


End file.
